


To Promise

by rose (kagseyamas)



Series: Encounters [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Confessions, F/F, catradora, im not a furry. however. catra is hot, mention of injury, post S1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-01
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-09-02 21:39:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16795246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kagseyamas/pseuds/rose
Summary: “Hey Adora.”Adora flinched at the words as the figure hopped into a crouch from the trees, before standing before her. Lifting her head and turning to face her, Adora stared Catra right in the eyes, straightening her back so her confidence appeared to be unwavering.“Catra,” she said curtly. “Still doing Shadow Weaver’s dirty work, I see.”Catra stared for a beat or two in silence, before she cracked a nasty grin. It still sent chills down Adora’s spine to see her look at her like that. She’d seen that smile many a time, only ever occasionally directed at her, but never before with so muchmalice. When Adora looked into her eyes, it was quite clear that the girl that used to be her best friend was long gone.“Ohh, you didn’t hear? Iamthe new Shadow Weaver.”





	To Promise

Bombs detonated in the distance as Adora nipped through the mangled, frozen trees of the Whispering Woods, her boots crunching in the snow as she sprinted. It had barely been enough to fight the Horde off last time, she wasn’t surprised they came back, with even more weapons this time.

Another far away gunshot made her jump.

The alliance had it, for now. She needed to speak to Light Hope, or that robot information lady, or even to read some ancient writing— _anything_ to help banish the Horde from Bright Moon once and for all. Or at least for longer than a few weeks. They had been training, sure, but so had Catra, she was certain.

She stopped dead when she heard a rustle from the trees. She swiveled in a circle, unsheathing her sword so quickly she almost scraped her crown.

“Who’s there? Show yourself!”

Silence. Then,

“Hey Adora.”

Adora flinched at the words as the figure hopped into a crouch from the trees, before standing before her. Lifting her head and turning to face her, Adora stared Catra right in the eyes, straightening her back so her confidence appeared to be unwavering.

“Catra,” she said curtly. “Still doing Shadow Weaver’s dirty work, I see.”

Catra stared for a beat or two in silence, before she cracked a nasty grin. It still sent chills down Adora’s spine to see her look at her like that. She’d seen that smile many a time, only ever occasionally directed at her, but never before with so much _malice_. When Adora looked into her eyes, it was quite clear that the girl that used to be her best friend was long gone.

“Ohh, you didn’t hear? I _am_ the new Shadow Weaver.”

Adora’s eyes widened, and her lips pursed into a frown. Her knuckles were white against the hilt of her sword.

“What?”

Catra grinned and inspected her claws. “Yeah. See, turns out Hordak was so _impressed_ with me, he made me second in command! Who knew I had so much potential, right?”

Adora had many questions, but the first one that came to mind was, “What happened to Shadow Weaver?”

Catra cocked her head. “Should have known you’d worry about her. You were her precious _golden child_ after all.” Her gleeful eyes narrowed as the corner of her mouth pulled up into a smirk. “Don’t worry. I took _good care_ of her.”

Catra took a step forward. Adora took one back, raising her sword in front of her.

“You know,” Catra said, continuing to walk slowly towards her, Adora taking steps backward each time, “I’m loving the power, to be honest. No one can touch me at the Horde, it’s like being…” She sucked in a breath of air. “Well. You know.”

Adora did know. She knew now more than ever how deep they both were into this, and yet she couldn’t squash the glimmer of hope that remained.

“You don’t have to be like her,” Adora breathed. “You have power now. You can stop this.”

Catra stared at her incredulously. “Seriously? _This_ again? I don’t _want_ to stop, Adora. I _like_ being in charge. I _like_ doing everything in my power to crush the rebellion.” She reached out and slowly dragged one long nail down the flat surface of Adora’s blade, creating a sharp shrieking noise that made Adora grit her teeth. “To crush _you_.”

Adora watched her carefully for several seconds, watched Catra’s smug look waver ever-so-slightly as she tried to comprehend her silence, watch her drop her hand to her side. Adora sheathed her sword, and transformed back to her regular self, Horde uniform and all.

“Fine,” she said. “You want to kill me? Kill me.”

Catra blinked. “I…”

“You want me dead so badly Catra? Well here I am. I’m not going to hide behind a crown to make it easier for you.”

Adora watched the way she eyed her uniform. “You’re not really going to let me touch you. I’m not an idiot, Adora.”

“Neither am I,” she replied. “And I know you don’t really want to hurt me.”

She knew that wasn’t necessarily true. She thought of the slowly-healing scratch marks on her back. She had hoped they wouldn’t scar because she’d been She-Ra when she’d gotten them, but she’d had no such luck. They had stung not because they were open wounds, but rather with phantom pain, remembering where they had come from. The events that had led to them.

“You’re angry, Catra. I’d be too.” She tested the waters, taking a step towards her. Catra stayed put.

“I’ll never forgive myself for leaving you behind, and if I could change the past I would.” She was horrified to realize that she was tearing up. “But I don’t regret leaving, and I’m not going to apologize for fighting you. Not when you’re on the wrong side of the battle.”

Catra seemed stunned into silence.

Adora sniffed, clearing her throat so that she wouldn’t sound so choked up. “You’re always telling me how I betrayed you. How I left you behind. But…but what about _me_ , Catra?”

This wasn’t supposed to be happening. She was supposed to be the _composed_ one. She-Ra didn’t have emotional breakdowns in front of the enemy. Often.

“You were my best friend, and I had everything I knew—my _whole life_ —ripped away from me. You were the person I needed the most, and…and you tried to _kill_ me.” She was starting to sound solid now, but it wasn’t an emotional adjustment. It was anger. “Why? Was it because you were _jealous_ of me? I thought I knew you, but I guess I missed you becoming to _heartless_.” With that, she shoved Catra hard, enough to cause her to stumble backwards.

It stunned them both, Adora into silence, and Catra into the ability to speak once again.

“I’m not heartless,” she growled, but Adora suspected her low register was hiding something else. “You don’t even know me anymore, so don’t pretend to know what I’m feeling.”

“Tell me, then!” she yelled in frustration.

“I _loved_ you, Adora,” Catra yelled right back, as though something inside her had snapped.

Then, she became small.

Adora’s eyes widened, her blood stopping cold as Catra stared at her feet, a resentful smile biting its way onto her mouth.

“So there’s that,” she laughed emptily. “You were the one thing I had, Adora. You were supposed to choose _me_.”

“Catra,”Adora began, her voice thick with tears. It was never supposed to be like this.

“You think I never knew something was wrong with the Horde? With the way Shadow Weaver treated me growing up?” Catra continued, refusing to look at her. “I knew, and I stayed, because…whatever side you were on, that was the right side, for me.” She laughed again humorlessly. “Guess you didn’t feel the same way.”

Adora wanted to go to her more than anything. To hold her like she’d done countless times, to tell her that’d she’d felt the same way, in another life. That everything was going to be alright. To promise.

She knew better.

“It’s not too late to put an end to this,” she said again, voice barely above a whisper. “Come back to Bright Moon, we can work things out. We could stop all of this chaos, if we worked together. Don’t you want that?” Her eyed were pleading, but as soon as Catra’s met hers, she knew it was no use.

Too far gone.

“The only thing I want, is to make you pay,” she said coldly. “With a sprinkle of the fall of Bright Moon and all your little friends.”

Adora opened her mouth to reply, when several shouts came from nearby. She didn’t recognize the voices, which told her they were Horde soldiers, and Catra seemed to realise that too.

Adora didn’t know what move Catra would make. She had already let her escape once, she wasn’t so sure she would be so lucky again. Catra glanced backwards before turning to Adora again.

“She’s over here!” Catra called without breaking eye contact.

Knowing she had to act quickly and trying not to think about what Catra had just said, and what she had just done, Adora unsheathed her sword, channeling her energy into it and pointing it towards the sky. A dense beam of light shot straight upwards the sky, breaking the trees.

“Come and get me!” she yelled at the top of her lungs.

Catra looked angry and ready to pounce, but it seemed to come from confusion, more than anything. Adora could hear footsteps thundering her way, and gritted her teeth. _Any second now would be brilliant_.

She blinked, and Glimmer was beside her. Before she could blink again, she was out of the Whispering Woods and back on palace grounds with Glimmer hugged to her side. In the corner of her eye she could see the princesses of the alliance fighting off Horde soldiers while Angella fought to put up a barrier around the grounds.

“I saw your beacon!” Glimmer gasped, once they were both steady on their feet. “Are you hurt? She didn’t hurt you, did she?”

Adora struggled to move her mouth, and she settled for a slight head-shake instead. She took a deep breath. “Thank you. For coming to get me. I don’t know what I would have…”

Glimmer hushed her, her eyes wide and pitiful. “It’s okay. We’ll talk about it later, but right now we have to protect Bright Moon. I’ll go help my mom, you go to the others. We need She-Ra right now.”

“Right,” Adora said, slapping her game face on.

She didn’t think about Catra, or the way she hadn’t gotten the chance to say goodbye, or the hurtful, correct things she had said, or the unsurprised, frustrated look on her face when Glimmer had arrived.

She didn’t think about that at all. She had a kingdom to protect.

**Author's Note:**

> catradora sent my wig into orbit tbh anyway hope yall enjoyed. my blog is @galimmer bls follow me bc i just remade and have like 1 follower and its making me sad thx


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